ὄξος

From the study of John 19:30

Range of meaning

Sour wine; wine that has turned acidic; wine vinegar mixed with water as a cheap, thirst-quenching drink. Related to oxys, 'sharp'.

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'vinegar' suggests the condiment; 'sour wine' (BSB, ESV, NASB) better conveys a drink. The Romans called the soldiers' version posca.

How it drifted

In modern English 'vinegar' means a cooking ingredient nobody drinks, so readers can assume the drink was meant as torture. The word itself does not say that.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ruth 2:14, where Boaz invites Ruth to dip her bread in the oxos, an ordinary drink for field-workers; Numbers 6:3 (Nazirites abstain from it). Psalm 69:21 (LXX 68:22): 'for my thirst they gave me oxos to drink', the psalm of the righteous sufferer that John cites elsewhere (2:17; 15:25).

From the study of John 19:29

Range of meaning

Wine that has gone sour or sharp, anywhere from tart, cheap wine to actual wine vinegar. Mixed with water, it was the standard thirst-quencher of soldiers, field workers and the poor. Romans called this mix posca. It was also used in cooking and medicine.

Against the English

KJV and WEB say 'vinegar'. Today that means a sharp condiment no one drinks by the cupful, so the reader pictures a nasty, almost poisonous drink. BSB, ESV and NASB say 'sour wine', and NIV 'wine vinegar'. These are closer: the drink was cheap and sharp, but people really drank it and it really refreshed them.

How it drifted

In 1611, 'vinegar' (from French vin aigre, 'sour wine') still clearly meant soured wine, and people did drink vinegar-water. As vinegar became a kitchen product only, the word kept its sharpness and lost the sense of an ordinary drink.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ruth 2:14 in Greek: Boaz invites Ruth to dip her bread in the oxos, which was harvest workers' food. Numbers 6:3 in Greek: the Nazirite must avoid 'oxos of wine'. Psalm 68:22 in Greek (69:21 in English): 'for my thirst they gave me oxos to drink'. Plutarch (Cato the Elder 1.13) says the frugal Cato drank water on campaign, or oxos when he was very thirsty. Roman sources mention posca as soldiers' rations (for example Historia Augusta, Hadrian 10.2).

From the study of Luke 23:36

Range of meaning

Wine that has turned sour, or sharp wine vinegar. It was used as a cheap everyday drink, usually thinned with water, and as a dip for bread. The Latin posca, the common soldiers' drink of sour wine and water, is the usual comparison, although oxos itself names the sour wine and not the mixture.

Against the English

'Vinegar' (KJV, WEB, YLT) sounds like a kitchen condiment nobody would drink. 'Sour wine' (BSB, ESV, NASB, NLT) gives the better picture. 'Wine vinegar' (NIV) keeps the link to wine but still suggests the condiment.

How it drifted

'Vinegar' comes from Old French vin aigre, literally 'sour wine', so the English word began close to the Greek. As vinegar came to mean mainly a seasoning, the sense of a drink dropped out of the reader's picture.

Used elsewhere in the period

The reapers in Ruth 2:14 (Greek version) dip their bread in it at a meal. Numbers 6:3 lists it among the grape products a Nazirite must avoid. Plutarch (Cato the Elder 1.7) says Cato drank water on campaign, and oxos only when badly parched. The Historia Augusta (Hadrian 10.2) shows the emperor Hadrian sharing camp food, posca included, as a mark of living like his men. Its harsher face appears in Psalm 69:21 (68:22 in the Greek), where enemies give the sufferer sour wine for his thirst, and in Proverbs 10:26, where the Hebrew equivalent sets teeth on edge. BDAG describes it as a thirst-quencher favoured by people of modest means.